Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: What up, what up, what up? Welcome back to another edition of the Bad podcast. Brad and Dwayne in the building. My brother Brad. What's going on, brother? We're talking about today, my friend.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Talking about our people. Our peeps are our corner. And I got a. A little segment out of chapter two, page 17.
Get your bug date.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Get it, get it. I got it.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Ready, baby?
Page 17. So you can actually join along today. And I'm going to skip from one paragraph to the next, but the first thing I want to say is exposure is essential. We talk about this almost every week. Exposure is essential if your goal is to excel in running, immerse yourself in the community of runners. If you aim to thrive in climbing, connect with climbers and immerse yourself with. Within those that specialize in those communities. You're a weightlifter. What are you going to immerse yourself in with? Weightlifters? So surround yourself with people that you want to be like, let's talk about exposure. We got a neat guest today, and I am.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Yeah, let's get it.
Are you ready?
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Are you ready?
[00:01:17] Speaker A: What it look like? Would it be like, what it do? Brad and Dwayne, back in here. Another edition of the Bad podcast. Brad and Dwayne, super excited for you guys to join us. And like we do always, man, we start the show with an amazing guest. And before we get into the guests and who she is and what she got going on, I want to, first of all, man, just shout out E2M Kitchen, man. They have been going above and beyond for us, man. And we even have a. A code that we dropped on the last. Excuse me. On the last episode. So make sure you check that out. If you type in the bar pod, the bar P O D, you will get 20 off that first box, man. And so, Brad, I'm not going to belabor I the time. I'm gonna pass it to you so we can get to our amazing guests.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Melissa, I'm excited to introduce you informally, but then I want you to formally introduce yourself. We were just introduced via email, but I got a chance to check out your social media and your website, and you're doing fabulous, fabulous things in the. In the fitness game and in the wellness game. So I want you to properly introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: Thank you, Brad. Well, I, I just amazed at that introduction, saying, I'm amazing. I've got a lot to live up to now, haven't I? And what I do, funnily enough, I'm really glad that you guys have me on as guys, because what I talk about is fitness for women over 40, fitness and weight loss for women over 40. But one of my sayings is, is work out like a bro.
Because women my age, they don't like to lift weights. They give me a lot of pushback on that. And I have to sort of say to them, it's kind of impossible to get bulky if you're a woman. Would you agree? I. I think it's nigh on impossible. If you're over the age of 50, it's pretty much impossible to get bulky, you know, unless you're taking pets, it's just not going to happen.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: So.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: So, yeah, one of my phrases is work out like a bro. And so, yeah, I was really excited that you wanted to have me on because I thought it's not something guys necessarily want to talk about. They don't want to talk about the menopause body. Sometimes they're scared of the menopausal body, what to do. Some male trainers, some male trainers are absolutely fantastic and some a bit frightened of that. They're treading into territory that they don't really understand. So I help women over 40 get in shape. I've got a bodybuilding background, so I kind of went from fat to fit, went down to dress sizes, didn't lose a massive amount of weight, only about 20 pounds, transform my own body. And then I found out really the method that works. And so what I do now is I help other women like me transform their bodies. Sometimes guys, watch my YouTube channel, because I've got a YouTube channel. I've got a book out. The book is called Kickstart, Kickstart Fat loss. And, you know, it's got Amazon number one bestseller on. On the Amazon list in subtitles. Transform your body over 40.
So, you know, and also I run my own programs. So I've got an app. I've helped over 10,000 women on my app lose that dreaded menopause belly fat and get in shape. So that's kind of a bit about me.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: I love it. I want to jump in real quick on that weightlifting thing that you said. So I was in education for 10 years and. And you know, one of my. One of my passions is. Is training young kids, right? So high school athletes, collegiate athletes, and every time I would try to train a female athlete. Mr. Barmore, I don't want to get bulky. Hey, listen, I've been trying for 20 years to get bulky. You ain't gonna get bulky, I promise you. But I'm just glad you said that because there's so many people, even, Even Dwayne with E2M, there's so many women that had this idea that if I start lifting weights, I'm gonna get.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it's, it's definitely one of those things. And you know, the reason. And you, you mentioned us being guys, although we are guys. The program that we both work for and a part of is mostly women. So we know that they, that, you know, you bring, you would bring a lot of value to that as well. So I didn't mean to cut you off, but I wanted to, to kind of talk about just when it comes to, you know, helping women understand, you know, how muscle and, and lifting isn't, you know, you know, help them this, you know, get rid of all of the, the, the myths about it. What's kind of your approach in like, you know, educating women on that? How do you approach that?
[00:06:11] Speaker C: I'm so glad you asked me that, Dwayne, because it's just a really important thing to talk about is muscle and the role that muscle plays in your metabolic health.
And really it doesn't matter what age you are, but as you get older, it becomes more and more important your metabolic health. And so muscle is the thing that's going to help women, men, everyone, burn more calories. So if you've got more muscle on you, and I know you guys, I saw the intro with your stage competitor. Look, I think if you've got more muscle on you, your body's just going to burn more calories. And we know that because we've competed in bodybuilding shows. And so you kind of. That's like your mantra, isn't it? You know that if you've got muscle on you, you're going to burn more calories. But for, with the general female population, that's quite hard to understand because when they see bodybuilding shows, they see these women that are massive, so say the bigger competitors, and then there's an even larger size, isn't there, physique. And they look at that and they think, oh, I'm going to get like that. Now, part of that is actually down to how lean you are, isn't it? So when I'm really leaning, you know, for my stage, my stage look is really, really lean. That's when people start to accuse me of and kind of think, oh, you look, you look too muscular. But actually the muscles remain the same as, you know, because you've both done prep, haven't you? The muscle remains the same. It's Just that you've got leaner so your muscle stands out more. It looks, you know, you can get striations and all that sort of thing. And, and so that's what women fear. They look at that and they think, oh, it doesn't look feminine. And of course, but if they saw a woman, a woman like me or all the women you see on social media platforms, on Instagram and they see them and, and they sort of say, I want to look like that. They'll say to me, I want to look like you. Well, that's what you've got to do. You've got to build muscle, haven't you, to look like that? And it doesn't, it's going to be down to how much level of leanness, if you're doing it clean that you are before, you're going to kind of show muscle. And so if you're not really, really lean and for most women you won't want to go under 15% body fat percentage because it's not healthy for women. And so you're not, you're just not going to look like that stage competitor look at all. You're just going to look feminine. You can grow your glutes, you can reduce your waistline, can't you, you can have really sort of snatched waste by following a sort of bodybuilders protocol. And so that's what I teach women to do.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: I love it, I mean I love it because you, you, it's so true because even you know, Brad doesn't compete. I'm throwing it out there because we, we've had all, Brad's a runner, he does marathons, Ironmans, all of that. And we've always had runners on the show. So today's my time to shine because we have a competitor, we have a bodybuilder on the show. But I wanted to say I really love how you brought that up because you know, even on the natural bodybuilding realm, like you know, I'm naturally, I'm not gonna look like a Ryan Terry, you know, in two or three years, you know, just, just it's because it's more things that goes into that. But the like you mentioned when you lower that body fat percentage because everybody thought like man, you got bigger. Like no, I actually, I lost weight, you know, because the more leaner you are, the more like you mentioned your muscles, you know, are more defined, the striations, all of those things. So it's really cool that you hit on that. So talk about just your, your, your, your program, like how does that work? And, and how do you, you know, the, the ladies that you train and how do you train them and all of that.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: So, you know, the program is like a tried and tested method that I use for women over 40 and I have to tell you, I kind of stolen it because I've used my own experience of bikini prep and it's just like not so extreme version of that, you know, because bikini prep or bodybuilding prep will reduce a grown woman or man to tears. It's quite hard. So I do something that's far less extreme. And so what we do on the program, and by the way, it gets incredibly incredible results. But what we do on the program, one of our signature programs is called the eight week Challenge. And we too, we got it going on at the moment and it offers a twenty thousand dollar reward prize.
So that's the first thing to say. It's, you're going to need an enormous amount of mindset when you're female and you're over 40 and you're trying to transform your body or you are transforming. Let's not talk about trying, let's do we, we talk about doing, don't we? And so you're going to need an enormous amount of mindset. So I offer a massive prize, you know, at the end of this transformation challenge. And it's only eight weeks, which makes it really doable for people because they just think, yeah, I can commit to kind of eight weeks. And then it takes around about 60 days to form a really good habit. So by the time you've done that eight weeks, it's like, oh, I've, I've got into this routine and we take women through my app. It's an online app, Body by Bikini. And they have a structured strength training program which they can either do at the gym or at home. There's a lot of German volume training in it, so, you know, they want to shout and scream at me as soon as they get into there and start workouts. Volume training is really grueling. It's 10 sets of, of 10. Now you don't do 10 sets of 10 on every exercise. It's 10 sets of 10 on things like, things like squats, things like hip thrusts, that sort of thing. Not every single exercise is 10 sets of 10, but there are, there's a bit of that in there, which makes it really, really challenging. They do a small amount of cardio so they can walk with a weighted vest. Because a lot of women over 40, it's not great for us to be out There running.
You know, I hear you, Brad, about you running, and I love it. I used to be a runner myself and then there just came a time in my life where it didn't suit me. And so I don't get women at this stage in life running because they can end up depleting their muscle mass and it's really hard to build muscle mass. So with distance running in particular, sprint training is fine if you can do it. But a lot of women at this stage in life have bad knees, for example.
So that's why I tend to get them walking with a weighted vest, because that's kind of doable for anyone. Or they can kind of use any equipment in the gym that they get their cardio done. If they're up for it, they can turn that into hiit cardio high intensity interval training. And we just kind of do 20 minutes. Towards the end, it will turn into 30 minutes, not a massive amount of cardio because as we've discovered, women at this stage in life, we find it really hard to build muscle. It's really challenging to build muscle. So we keep the cardio down to sort of small amounts to, to ensure that women can kind of build the muscle and therefore really build their metabolism. And then we just get them doing high protein eating. I have a meal plan.
They're getting in 140, 150 grams of protein a day. And that for some women, if they're a novice, they're like, that seems like a lot of protein, doesn't it? And you know, you can get a bit pushback on that sometimes because people think it's too much. But it really works in terms of how can you build your muscle. You know, Dwayne will know this as well. With competing in shows, it's just going to help you build your muscle, but also improve your metabolism. And it takes your body longer to, to break down protein than it does carbohydrates and fats. And so when I work with women, I always push their protein up really high and they usually find that at first quite, you know, quite different. Your plate of food is going to look different than the start, the sad plate of food, standard American diet. It's going to look so different, you know, because it's going to be a huge chunk of like tofu or chicken. If it's your dinner, it's good. And, and I don't get them cutting out the carbs, by the way. We still, we still do carbs. It's going to be like some rice and potatoes and vegetables. But you're like quarter to a third of your plate is going to be made up of protein. And a lot of people find that's quite different to how they've been used. You know, used to getting results. But they get amazing, incredible results. You know, not just the winner. That's like winners that have won 10,000, $20,000 and they look incredible. But even the women that don't win anything, they are amazed because what you've got to remember, Twain and Brad, at this stage in life, most women on average have gained 20 to 25 pounds.
You know, in the menopause phase, age 45 up to 55, they've probably gained about 20, 25 pounds. So if you're losing, you're kind of the trend. So when you think some women have come on this program and they lose 20 pounds, I try not to focus too much on wet scale weight. They'll lose. We had a lady called Steph. She lost seven inches in eight weeks. Stephanie did.
That's a lot for a menopausal women. She's 55, 57. She's definitely 55.
She was one of our winners. She lost seven inches in eight weeks. That's just unbelievable. By following this protocol, by following the high protein eating, lifting weights and you know, probably about up to two hours of cardio a week. Not a massive amount of cardio, but as you know, you probably know this, the nutrition is the thing that makes the massive difference.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Brad, you got something, man.
The Internet been messing with you today?
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm actually glad you brought that cardio component because, you know, being a runner and if, if I do cut out, guys, holy cow, this has been an adventure.
If so with the cardio piece, you know, being a runner, a lot of people, they don't understand why I have those extra carbohydrates, why I have that extra meal. Because our meal plan is very similar to yours. It's a lot of protein, it's vegetables. For me, it's a lot of carbohydrates. Just so I can sustain that level of endurance. And you know, we used to do an eight week program. Now we do a four week programs and it's more surrounded by wellness. But just to speak to what you're talking about with that plate, by, by your accent, it doesn't sound like you're from the States. Is that, is that right? Is that accurate?
[00:17:59] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: So I live in the United Kingdom.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: Okay.
But what I was going to say is in our society here in The States.
A plate of food is not what you're talking about. You know, it's, it's, it's. It's a hamburg. It's French fries. It's, you know, it's a lot of different foods that don't really do a whole for the body and for the overall wellness and health piece. And what you're talking about is healthy proteins. You're talking about vegetables, you're talking about carbohydrates, you're talking about healthy fats. And that's really what we're talking about here. And you're absolutely right. Whether you're doing cardio or strength training, at the end of the day, that nutrition piece is vital. It's imperative that you lock in on that nutrition piece. I, however, have to go. I got another thing going on, but Dwayne's going to close it out. Guys, I appreciate all your time and, and we'll, we'll talk soon.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: All right?
All right, y'all. Brad is jumping off. We actually, I'm gonna talk to you a lot offline once we get off, we transition. But Brad has been getting ready to do a live in our private Facebook group. We have a private Facebook group called Eager to Motivate, where Brad is one of the coaches. So he's going to do his lunchtime live. But before we leave, I have a few things. The first thing I want you to do is we have what we call our.
We do this to all of our guests. We do what we call the do you know or did you know? Moment. This is a question that we like to ask our guests to share something with us that you may not have shared on any other podcast that maybe your. Your. Your YouTube followers or nobody knows this about you. We want this to be a did you know or do you know? Thing about you. And so I'm gonna give you a check, chance to think about what you want that, that thing to be. Make sure that if it's criminal, that it, you know, we're outside, you're outside the US So you're safe on this. But I'm gonna play a short video. So when we come back from this short video, have your do you know or did you know? Moment. Here we go. It's a short video.
Do you know a video's over. So what is something that people may not know about you?
[00:20:14] Speaker C: Wow. When I was a kid, I was 12 years old, I used to be a kids TV presenter. And most people know me from my YouTube channel. They would not know this because predominantly my YouTube channel is mainly USA people that watch it and of course the children's. The children's television was in the uk, but someone actually shared it. They, they. Because I, I, I sort of got this message from a friend of mine because about four years ago someone did share it on Twitter, an actual clip of the show which I didn't, it didn't even know existed. And it was hilarious. Hilarious. It was so funny. The language we were using. Because, you know, you're going back, what is it like 40 years ago now, the la. It was still in color, by the way. It wasn't in black and white. And the language we were using and the things we were saying. And I was actually making a sandwich showing on TV how to make a sandwich, which I actually shared it with my kids. They thought it was hilarious. But yeah, not many people would actually know that about me, that I was a kid TV presenter, I think I. Two seasons on program called why don't you.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Nice. All right. Double celeb. I love it.
Thank you so much for sharing that. So as we get ready to close out, I always usually let Brad give us any words of encouragement, anything you want to leave with our listeners. But I'm gonna give that floor to you. Anything you want to leave. Like I said, we, you know, at E2M, we're mostly women, so make sure, you know, whatever you want to speak to our ladies about and also let them know how to find you. I heard you said a book, like all the things. This is your chance to say all that now.
[00:22:08] Speaker C: Yeah. So I've got the best way to find me is on my website, melissaneal.com and I also have a hugely popular YouTube channel.
It's called Melissa Neal as well. It's really easy to find me. If you Google me, it's probably going to come up, but that's got about 300,000 subscribers, 40 million views. And I do find what it's there for is just to educate women about how to lose weight, how to get in shape if you're over the age of 40. So it's a very easy route into me. You know, it's free and, you know, I give lots of information. I hold live events. You know, every couple of weeks I do a live event on YouTube. So that's kind of the best way to get hold of me.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: I love it. And any, any words of encouragement, anything you want to leave?
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Well, I'd say, you know, as I said at the top, it's like, work out like a bro. Don't be afraid to lift weights and get your protein in. Those are the two messages that I love to give women at this stage in life is like, lift your weights, get your protein in, and you'll be on to some sort of success if you follow that process.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: I love it. Sounds good. Thank you again, Melissa, to our listeners. Thank you guys for checking out the Bad Podcast Brad and Duane, every Monday. Make sure you hit that subscribe button, that like button, that share button. Also go to Melissa's page, and actually, I was looking at it while we were talking. She has some really good videos, so make sure you go check those out as well. Until next time, y'all, we're out of here.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: Boat.
Yeah, boy.
